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The Jaguar XJR-5 is a IMSA GTP sports prototype race car, designed, developed and built by Group 44 racing for Jaguar with the aim of competing, from 1982, in the IMSA GT Championship. Jaguar XJR-5s contested until 1985, before Jaguar replaced it with the Jaguar XJR-7. [1] [2] [3] [4]
In the late 1970s, CEO John Egan wanted to initiate a racing program to boost sales of the Jaguar which was falling sharply at that historic time, especially in the US market. So he consulted Jaguar executive director in the United States Mike Dale about a car for IMSA's new GTP prototype class and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Bob Tullius and his Group 44 team were contacted after the Triumph TR8 racing program had just ended. The car was designed by Lee Dykstra, together with Max Schenkel and Randy Wittine, who were experts in aerodynamics. The XJR-5 was completed and presented in August 1982. [5] [6] [7] [8]
For the development and design of the vehicle, a computerized system was used together with a scale model used in the wind tunnel to test and design the aerodynamics of the vehicle. [9] [10]
The first victory came with the Group 44 team in 1984 at the Miami Grand Prix.
The engine was a roughly 600hp V12 which propelled the car up to around 230mph. In its first season of the IMSA GT championship, it achieved four race wins.
Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is one of the main types of circuit auto racing, alongside open-wheel single-seater racing, touring car racing and stock car racing. Sports car races are often, though not always, endurance races that are run over relatively large distances, and there is usually a larger emphasis placed on the reliability and efficiency of the car as opposed to outright speed of the driver. The FIA World Endurance Championship is an example of a sports car racing series.
Nimrod Racing Automobiles was a partnership founded in 1981 between racing driver and car dealer Robin Hamilton and chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda, Victor Gauntlett. The project was intended to build sports prototypes for the World Endurance Championship and IMSA GT Championship using Aston Martin V8 engines. Although Aston Martin did not own the project, they offered their support for the chance to see success for their name in motorsports without the heavy cost of running their own team.
The Jaguar XJ220 is a two-seat sports car produced by British luxury car manufacturer Jaguar from 1992 until 1994, in collaboration with the specialist automotive and race engineering company Tom Walkinshaw Racing. The XJ220 recorded a top speed of 212.3 mph (341.7 km/h) during testing by Jaguar at the Nardo test track in Italy. This made it the fastest production car from 1992 to 1993. According to Jaguar, an XJ220 prototype managed a Nürburgring lap time of 7:46.36 in 1991 which was faster than any production car lap time before it.
The Porsche 962 is a sports-prototype racing car built by Porsche as a replacement for the 956 and designed mainly to comply with IMSA's GTP regulations, although it would later compete in the European Group C formula as the 956 had. The 962 was introduced at the end of 1984, from which it quickly became successful through private owners while having a remarkably long-lived career, with some examples still proving competitive into the mid-1990s. The vehicle was later replaced by the Porsche WSC-95.
Group C was a category of motorsport, introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993. Group C applied to sports car racing, with Group A for touring cars and Group B for GTs.
Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) was a motor racing team and engineering firm founded in 1976, in Kidlington, near Oxford, England, by touring car racer Tom Walkinshaw.
The Jaguar XJR-9 is a sports-prototype race car built by Jaguar for both FIA Group C and IMSA Camel GTP racing, debuting at the 1988 24 Hours of Daytona.
Alvah Robert "Al" Holbert was an American automobile racing driver who was a five-time champion of the IMSA Camel GT series. He once held the record with the most IMSA race wins at 49.
The 1984 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 52nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 16 – 17 June 1984. It was also the third round of the 1984 World Endurance Championship.
The Jaguar XJR sportscars were a series of race cars used by Jaguar-backed teams in both the World Sportscar Championship (WSC) Group C and the IMSA Camel GTP series between 1984 and 1993.
IMSA GT was a sports car racing series organized by International Motor Sports Association. Races took place primarily in the United States, and occasionally in Canada.
The Nimrod NRA/C2 was the only Group C racing car ever built by Nimrod Racing Automobiles in partnership with Aston Martin. It ran initially in 1982 in the World Endurance Championship before also joining the IMSA GT Championship. The final NRA/C2 would be retired in 1984 after the planned NRA/C3 replacement had been cancelled and the company went bankrupt.
The Jaguar XJR-12 is a sports-prototype race car built by the Jaguar Cars-backed Tom Walkinshaw Racing team for both Group C and IMSA Camel GTP. The XJR-12 is famous for winning the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
The Lola T600 was a racing car introduced in 1981 by Lola Cars as a customer chassis. It was the first GT prototype race car to incorporate ground-effect tunnels for downforce. The revolutionary aerodynamic design of the T600 was widely imitated throughout the 1980s by International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) and Group C prototype cars. The Lola T600 ran initially in the U.S.-based IMSA GT series and later in European Group C races.
The Jaguar XJR-6 is a Group C sports prototype race car, designed, developed and built by TWR, with the aim of competing, from 1985, in the World Sportscar Championship. A total of six Jaguar XJR-6s were built and they contested in the World Sportscar Championship until 1986, before Jaguar replaced them with the Jaguar XJR-8.
The Eagle MkIII is a sports prototype racing car built by All American Racers in 1991 to IMSA GTP specifications. Powered by a turbocharged Toyota inline-4 engine, the car was campaigned in the IMSA Camel GT series by Dan Gurney's Toyota-sponsored AAR team from 1991 through to the end of 1993. The Eagle MkIII won 21 out of the 27 races in which it was entered and is considered one of the most successful and technologically advanced designs of the IMSA GTP era — "a car that proved so overwhelmingly dominant that the class for which it was created has now been assigned to history", according to Racer magazine.
The Jaguar XJR-10 is an IMSA GTP sports prototype race car, designed, developed, and built by TWR for Jaguar, with the aim of competing, from 1989, in the IMSA GT Championship. Jaguar XJR-10s competed until 1991, before Jaguar replaced it with the Jaguar XJR-16. The car debuted a new 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 engine, which replaced the previous V12, and was later fitted to the Jaguar XJ220 as well.
The Jaguar XJR-16 is an IMSA GTP sports prototype race car, with the aim of competing, from 1991, in the IMSA GT Championship. The Jaguar XJR-16s had a short lifespan, competing for only one season, before being hastily replaced with the Jaguar XJR-14.
The Jaguar XJR-17 was an IMSA Lights racing car, built by Tom Walkinshaw Racing. Rebuilt from a Jaguar XJR-16 for the IMSA Camel Lights, the XJR-17 never competed in the event due to funding issues and has since only been used in a few minor British events and historic races. It used a modified version of the XJR-16's 3.5-litre V6 engine, stripped of the twin-turbochargers and producing a claimed output of 450 hp, whilst its bodywork was cobbled together using various parts from older Jaguar XJR Sportscars.
The Jaguar XJR-7 is a IMSA GTP sports prototype race car, designed, developed, and built by Group 44, for Jaguar with the aim of competing, from 1985, in the IMSA GT Championship. Jaguar XJR-7s contested until 1988, before Jaguar replaced it with the Jaguar XJR-9.
Media related to Jaguar XJR-5 at Wikimedia Commons